A man accused of kidnapping a woman from a Staples parking lot in Fort Smith pleaded not guilty to rape Wednesday.

Ardwin Sylvester is accused of driving the woman to Mena and raping her. Police said she was eventually able to get away when Sylvester stopped to refuel in Ashdown.

Sebastian County court documents showed Sylvester previously served time for a rape charge in 1999. He also was arrested and charged with breaking and entering in 1997.

One man who lives next door said he was surprised by the news.

"Somebody being that close. They're like right under me, a couple of doors down under me. Being neighbors, it was kind of shocking," James Hister said.

Sylvester's bond was set to $300,000.

Fort Smith police, meanwhile, are looking into whether policy was followed when a manager at Staples called 911 to report the kidnapping. The dispatcher who took the call sent the information to officers as a BOLO (Be On the Look Out), but an officer was not dispatched to the scene, according to a release from the Fort Smith Police Department.